AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s administration violated the state’s Freedom of Access Act by holding the first blue ribbon education commission hearing behind closed doors, the state attorney general’s office said Monday.
Assistant Attorney General Brenda Kielty, who handles FOAA issues for the attorney general, said the commission must conduct its meetings in public unless the law that created it specifically exempts it.
“I know of no exemption that would permit the meeting that occurred this morning to be convened privately,” she said.
The commission met Monday in the governor’s mansion. Commission member Sen. Justin Alfond, a Portland Democrat, said the governor’s staff barred reporters and two state lawmakers from attending.
Democrats on the commission agreed to stay at the table because it was clear the meeting would have happened “with or without us,” said Rep. Sara Gideon, a Freeport Democrat on the commission.
The commission is charged with evaluating the state’s education funding model and reporting back to the Legislature with recommendations.
Although LePage staff members had described the meeting as an “invitation-only breakfast,” commission members were given an agenda and documents, including a chart that compared Maine’s per-pupil school costs with costs in other states.
LePage spokesman Adrienne Bennett said the meeting was an informal, “get-to-know-you gathering” before the commission starts its work later.
After Kielty issued her opinion, LePage offered to remove himself from the commission process. Bennett said LePage’s absence would allow the teachers’ union and the media to stop “wasting their time attacking him” and instead focus on education reform.
As a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, LePage vowed to become the most transparent governor in state history.
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